Kellogg Family Foundation Grant

Students with special needs that attend Howell Public Schools will once again benefit from a grant on behalf of a local foundation. This year’s grant, worth approximately $23,360, will be used to purchase technology devices like Chromebooks and iPads for a program through the Livingston Educational Service Agency (LESA). The technology allows special needs students to better access their curriculum, support their individual learning needs and promote independence.

LESA Executive Director of Special Education, Doug Haseley, tells WHMI the equipment has helped disabled students learn more efficiently and quickly. Haseley says additionally, this allows teachers to provide targeted professional development. Staff members say not all special needs students can express themselves through pencil and paper, and the technology has encouraged their participation and desire to learn.

grant was awarded Wednesday night to LESA from the Kellogg Family Foundation. The Kellogg Foundation was created by Dr. Thomas Kellogg’s parents, who were longtime residents and volunteers in Howell. He says they impressed upon him to always be generous and to give back to the community. Dr. Kellogg says he is fond of the LESA program because his father served on the Howell School Board of Education for three terms. He says his father impressed upon him the idea that it is important to invest in children because they can take anything you give them and multiply it with their excitement and quest for knowledge.

In his effort to fulfill his parents’ wishes for the foundation, Dr. Kellogg says he has been able to witness the benefits of the grant firsthand. Dr. Kellogg says it is heartwarming to see the students be able to express themselves with these tools when some had not been able to before. The program began when LESA staff members brought their idea to Dr. Kellogg, seeking one or two items to get things started. Dr. Kellogg says he encouraged them to dream bigger and that the project took off and has continued to grow from there. (DK)